Liminal
by NotWeird
Summary: (adj.) between or belonging to two different places, states, etc. From highschooler to Huntress- a lighthearted take on what occurs from graduation from Signal Academy to Volume 1 of canon. [A non-canon sequel to Cobwebs and Crows.] COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** A light take on what occurs post-Signal and up to a little bit of canon. Part one of five.

No proof-reading we die like men.

* * *

 **-[-]-**

 **POST-SIGNAL ACADEMY GRADUATION TO YEAR ONE OF BEACON ACADEMY (1 YEAR BEFORE RWBY CANON)**

 **-[-]-**

The last two months of school flew by to Lumi's eyes. Branwen remained a little distant, but by graduation they were pretty much back to normal and he gave her a set of hairclips with little spiderweb charms on them.

"Your hair's always in your eyes," he said and shrugged without looking at her. "Figured this'll help."

She only just refrained from jumping on him and giving him the strongest hug she could muster, and settled instead on gesturing for him to come closer like she was about to tell him a secret. When he bent low to listen in, she planted a quick kiss on his cheek then slipped far, far away through the shadows as she laughed. His first text of the summer were the words "never do that again for as long as u live." She responded with a picture of herself with the new clips in her hair and a thumbs up emoji.

It didn't take her long to find out that he was somewhat flakey when it came to responding to texts, and a quick investigation (asking Ruby and Yang) revealed that he actually did a lot of missions over the summer so she tried not to hold it against him.

It wasn't like she didn't have anything to do- to help take some of the financial burden off her dad, she'd applied to Beacon's summer work-study program and as part of her application she convinced Marine, a seamstress she sometimes ran errands for, to take her on for the term. Most of her wages went towards school, but she got to keep any tips she earned and she could work on her own projects as long as it didn't distract her too much.

She ended up pretty busy all things considered, but she made time to hang out with her siblings and Calypso, who was back in Vale for the summer.

She filled the taller girl in on things she hadn't bothered to send over text/video call and in turn was regaled with tales from Cally's romance filled school year in Vacuo. They stayed up late laughing and whisper-screaming at each other and groggily stumbled into the kitchen the next morning with freshly dyed hair. Calypso had done the tips of her white hair in a vibrant hot pink while Lumi had opted dye the crown of her hair black. Her dad side-eyed the pair of them and muttered something to the effect of "so loud… where do they keep all that energy?" and "what is lit?" and "how did they get hair dye?"

Lumi sent a picture of her new hairstyle, followed by a picture of the birds that liked to nest outside her house, to Branwen.

Lumi: do u think they'll let me into their birb gang?  
Branwen: do chickadees have gangs

Curious, she searched Ping for the answer then sent it to him.

L: owls have parliaments but chickadees have banditry- sooo basically a gang  
B: noted  
B: free thursday?

She leaned back in her desk chair and hummed. Her Huntress outfit wasn't ready yet, but it was still early in the season. She texted back an affirmative and hammered out the details with him.

The hot summer trudged on. She sent him pictures of Kuro; he asked her worrisome questions about first-aid; she reminded him that she wasn't a doctor; he showed up with all of his limbs intact and told her not to worry the few times they met up- it was surprisingly easy to be his friend even if the two times they went for ice cream hers fell to the ground after a bite or three (she made him buy her another).

Granted, his advice when it came to choosing a Huntress outfit was… less than helpful, but despite that she ended up choosing something she was happy with just as the 39th Vytal Festival rolled around. She could have watched the matches like a normal person, but instead she bet Branwen half a melted chocolate bar that the first team to be eliminated would be team PEPR- which he played along with until they were betting random things like buttons, a shiny coin, two home-cooked meals, a torn piece of binder paper, a bottle of kiwi-flavored vodka etc.

It was all great fun- up to the point where he invited her out to grab coffee during the last semi-finals match and her favorite team was mercilessly destroyed before her very eyes. His laughter at her shocked face was drowned out by the sound of equal parts booing and cheers from the people around them, but she remembered the betrayal clearly and kept it in mind when she baked him a plate of cookies- with ground ghost pepper flakes in them.

Ruby later texted her, screaming about how cruel, heartless, and downright _evil_ it was to do that- to the cookies. The cookies hadn't done anything after all; why would she hurt them like that?

Lumi laughed so hard she cried and even Branwen's various threats couldn't bring her mood down. She let a week pass before she texted him again and sent him pictures of herself being cute with Kuro to try to appeal to his "I should not murder my cute ex-student because she's cute and I would be sad to lose her" sense. Well, she hoped she was appealing to that sense and not his "she's mocking me so now I'm going to drop her off a cliff" sense.

When she didn't end up dropped off a cliff, she sent him a travel sized bottle of honey whiskey and stuck a drawing of a scarecrow with a cape on it just to make sure his temper stayed non-murdery. He responded with a thumbs up emoji and a request for her to "run into" Yang and Ruby at the mall on Saturday because there was no way he was taking them swimsuit shopping by himself while Taiyang was at a teachers' conference for the weekend.

She prodded him for more information because "I can't take them shopping alone" wasn't even an excuse and he explained that it was fine when they were younger- but his adorable baby nieces were turning into women and if one more uppity busybody sniffed condescendingly at him he was going to burn the whole store down. Also, no one wanted to go shopping with their _dad_ \- much less their _uncle_.

She took pity on him- how could she not?- and spent two hours trying on cute bathing suits with the two younger girls. They parted ways and made plans to go swimming before the summer let up, which they did and it was great fun aside from the sunburn Lumi now sported on her cheeks and shoulders.

School snuck up on them, _somehow_ , despite it being on every calendar she owned and programmed into her phone. Lumi did end up getting thrown off a cliff, which she yelled at Branwen for not warning her about even though she was fine. He sent a page full of laughing emojis and nothing else in response.

Prick- she was going to put chili powder in his cookies again.

She ended up on Team HRLD (Herald) with a doormat leader, a too-flirty pretty boy and a girl best described as a "mild fireworks enthusiast" -if you used "would likely face jail-time but wouldn't make it to prison" to mean "mild."

It wasn't all bad though, because Calypso ended up going to Beacon instead of Shade and at least she didn't have to deal with filing weapon evaluation forms anymore (here, Branwen cursed her then immediately tried to cajole her into coming back to Signal to help him out which, ha ha ha- no). She'd served her time and it didn't matter how often he tried to bribe her with Stirbucks, she wasn't going back.

Fortunately enough, her team had settled into something that resembled an actual team and not a flaming trash can sometime during their second semester because they took as many missions as they could fit into their schedule- which had the effect of lowering the amount of infractions they got and allowed them to grow closer as a result. After all, it was hard to be annoyed with Diane for setting off the fire alarms three times a week because she was working on dust based cherry bombs when she saved Lumi's neck by chucking those same bombs down a King Taijitu's throat.

She and Branwen struck up casual conversations from time to time, but the amount of texts had dwindled due to their mutual lack of free time. At one point, he admitted (in his own way) that he missed having her around so she made sure to text him at least once a week and send him bizarre videos she found online to brighten his day. Well, she intended them to brighten his day but nine times out of ten he sent her a series of question marks instead of anything that would signify that he laughed, but she tried.

For the new year she sent him a coat with a handwritten note that said he should have more than one jacket to hide the fact that he only had one shirt. He sent her a picture of his middle finger taped to the front of a gift card to Stirbucks with a note that said she should get better taste in coffee.

She decided not to put chili powder in his next meal, but she would get back at him- eventually.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hope you lovely readers enjoyed. I found this old thing and decided to post it for funsies while I work on the (proper) sequel to Cobwebs and Crows. Drop a review if you enjoyed- or even if you didn't.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Part two of five.

* * *

 **-[-]-**

 **SUMMER BETWEEN YEAR 1 AND YEAR 2 OF BEACON ACADEMY (SUMMER BEFORE RWBY CANON)**

 **-[-]-**

"Why do you even need this much-" Nocte motioned furiously to the many bags she and Ash carried. "Stuff!? There's like six different buttons in this bag!"

Lumi thumbed a bolt of brocade. "A little birdie told me that Beacon's hosting the Vytal Festival this year, and to celebrate the school's going to host a dance." She carefully slid the fabric back into place.

"But you already have like thirty dresses!" Ash groaned from his spot on the shiny linoleum floor. "No more, Lumi, my arms are so tired."

"Wimps," she huffed when Nocte sat on the floor in solidarity with their brother. "Well, I guess I have enough for now. If you stop complaining I'll buy ice cream," she offered and checked her wallet.

Suddenly they were full of energy and Lumi rolled her eyes as they ran to the exit. She brought her small haul to the check-out and let herself daydream about what her next few projects would look like. When it came to things she loved, she rarely tired of the subject and in most cases felt a burning urge to _keep going_ even when other people dropped from exhaustion.

However, 9:30 AM sharp on Monday found her sympathetic to her siblings' past suffering. Prof- _Doctor_ Oobleck was a whirlwind both in class and outside of it, but _especially_ out of it and lucky little Lumi Hazelwood was his new summer intern.

Joy.

She set the stack of books to the side of Oobleck's desk and tried not to sneeze when a small cloud of dust hit her face. Half an hour into the day and after a quick tour (and she did mean _quick_ ) he already had her hard at work fetching and moving things. Her next task, once she grabbed the last few texts from the library using his card, was to make fresh copies of a list of articles/readings he had written down then bring them to him.

After that, she and the ancient looking laptop sitting in the equally aged leather arm chair in the corner were going to become very good friends for the next two or three hours while she watched videos meant to educate her on a dress code, safety protocols at Beacon (for fire, earthquakes, Grimm attacks, etc) and privacy.

As a temporary employee, she had a badge that she needed to keep on her at all times which would let her roam the school grounds (as long as she had access to the area) and a generic school intranet account where she could e-mail faculty and staff or put in work-orders if she found something broken. At the end of it, she'd have to fill out a bunch of forms reaffirming the promise that she wasn't going to steal from the school, intellectually or otherwise, or use any sensitive information that she came across for her own personal gain. There was also a block statement in there that she would report any suspicions of child abuse (odd for what was essentially a university), but a quick Ping search revealed that all educators- even professors- were mandated reporters so she signed the page and moved on.

It was a lot of information she had to take in, but she got through it in time for lunch and spent the short half hour mindlessly shoveling food into her mouth. She felt somewhat alive again afterwards and reported to Pro- _Doctor_ Oobleck with a polite smile on her face.

The smile remained on her face despite her newest set of orders to go through the last few years' worth of binders and files and write down the name of every article/reading/textbook used; with page numbers and publication dates in addition to the author(s) name(s), what year he used the material in and what year he used it for.

She hadn't seen Branwen once this summer and already she felt her luck turn rotten, but she did what she was told and at three o'clock she bid the energetic doctor goodbye and shadow-stepped away. Once in the comfort of her own home, she threw herself onto the couch and groaned loudly. It was going to be a long summer at this rate.

 **-[-]-**

Four and a half weeks in, Lumi felt like she had everything under control- well, mostly everything. She had technically been hired as part of the work-study program to be Dr. Oobleck's intern/assistant/ gofer, but like with most cases of working in an office, she had somehow become the errand girl by virtue of being young and temporary (or so her dad told her).

Her typical day went something like so: Wake up, have a strong cup of coffee (being half-awake in Oobleck's presence was dangerous to her health), shadow-step to Beacon so she still felt a little like a Huntress in training and not a complete paper pusher, check the coffee pot (brew more if necessary), then carefully break the Doctor's concentration to check in; refill his cup if needed. From there, he might have her print more articles or grab more books or run errands.

Errands mostly consisted of delivering or picking up paperwork, cleaning his office (he had years of old, graded exams that needed to be shredded, not to mention the frightening amount of dust on the lower shelves), grabbing a snack or lunch so he could eat while he worked/thought through a problem, or a dozen other tasks he and the few professors that remained over the summer might need done. The stress of adjusting to the new demands placed on her lead to a few days of baking, so she kept the teacher's lounge stocked with a rotating menu of whatever she had stuffed into the freezer at home and that kept the general mood up.

At one point Headmaster Ozpin had called her into his office so she could bring him and Professor Goodwitch a fresh pot of coffee while they had a meeting with Atlas' headmaster- presumably about the Vytal Festival because on the same screen where General Ironwood's video feed was displayed there was also a schematic of the Amity Colosseum- and she practically vibrated in place from the amount of authority in the room.

She'd seen both professors more times than she liked over the course of the school year because her team was a less than stellar example of professionalism what with Regis regularly having some poor heartbroken girl seeking revenge against him and Diane being better than the maintenance staff at making sure the fire alarms worked. Seeing either of them caused a smidgeon of anxiety to flare in her chest, and both together was just a disaster no matter how nicely the headmaster smiled at her. She quickly delivered the tray of things, snatched the used glassware, and scurried out.

That had been two weeks ago. Today, however, looked to be relatively easy because Oobleck wanted her to act as a sounding board/coffee drone while he mapped out what the third years' second semester was going to look like- literally. She had a strip of cork with two lines of thumb tacks stuck in it sitting on the desk in his classroom with small piles of pictures, articles, and summaries spread out so he could pick and choose what went onto the map with minimal fuss. She'd also brought along a carafe of coffee and a few extra mugs because Oobleck was terrible at keeping track of his drink and she couldn't find it in her heart to let him drink cold coffee.

He flitted between the desk and map, long fingers wound with string as he pinned things up and connected them with the brightly colored thread. A summary here, a picture here, an article or two with conflicting narrations there- no, wait not there, _here_ \- ah, much better. Lumi watched him out of the corner of her eye and tried not to get dizzy when he unpinned everything then hastily rearranged it with a speed that would make Ruby envious.

It took a while to notice (which was to say, it took a while for her brain to slow the motions down to normal-people speed) but Oobleck tended to touch around his mouth when he was about to drink or needed a refill and tap or pat his stomach when he was peckish. In class, he usually held a mug in hand but because of the constant re-arranging his cup(s) sat scattered throughout the piles- piles that were quickly becoming a borderless blob of paper and pictures- he needed both hands free so she made sure that every once in a while she topped up the coffee.

When he fiddled with the middle button on his shirt, crossed his arms and placed a fist to his mouth she quietly got up from her seat and slipped out of the classroom to grab a muffin for him. Luckily for her, Port was out on a mission so she didn't have to worry about going into town to pick up lunch because the two professors often had lunch together when they were both on campus. When Oobleck got this deep into a project, she ended up working through her lunch break and being gone for too long irritated the good doctor- mostly because he didn't realize that she'd left until a few minutes afterwards and having to stop his train of thought to recognize that fact left him in a poor mood.

Despite the occasional snappiness, he was a pretty good boss and she was a little excited for his class when the school year started back up. They hadn't worked out the second year curriculum yet because he was working backwards from the fourth years' lesson plan, but he liked to ramble when he read and argue with the authors so she was privy to some interesting tidbits. One war, for example, was won because the victors had a uniform railway gauge while the opposing side didn't. When he wasn't so focused, she planned to ask him to explain it because the thought that something as simple as _railroads_ winning a war was astonishing.

She grabbed the pair of muffins and pocketed a bottle of antacids from his desk then hummed to herself as she checked her Beacon intranet e-mail. A notice from the library that another book Oobleck had ordered was ready for pick up- a reminder that he needed to give back three other books- and… a message from headmaster Ozpin?

 **From:** Ozpin_headmaster  
 **To:** Temp_1139  
 **Subject:** Summer Work-Study Program

Good morning Miss Hazelwood,

Please come to my office at your earliest convenience between the hours of 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM.

Have a pleasant day,

Headmaster Ozpin

The message was from 9:37 that morning and it was only 11:43 so she still had time if she wanted to wait until after lunch, but it would probably be easier to get it out of the way- easier and it wouldn't give her too much time to freak the fuck out like she wanted to because _excuse me but what the fuck_. Was she going to lose her place in the program because of budget cuts? Did Doctor Oobleck secretly hate her and talk the headmaster into firing her?

She glanced at him as he blurred through the layer of papers and placed the bottle of antacids next to a still warm coffee cup. It didn't seem like he hated her but… ugh, there was no point worrying about it. She set down the muffins and slipped through the shadows to the base of the CCT. She smoothed down her skirt on the ride up and adjusted the collar of her blouse no less than three times.

"Good morning headmaster," she said politely when the doors slid open. "You asked to see me?"

"Yes. Good morning, Miss Hazelwood," he hit enter on the keyboard and turned his attention to her. "What do you know about Aura?"

"In general?" She blinked and took a seat. "Well, I know that it protects and heals users over time. Some people think it's the physical form of the soul."

"Anything else?" he asked.

What was this, a test? Wasn't he going to fire her?

"With practice, it can be used to heal," she added then shifted her legs. "Or transfused, sort of like blood."

He nodded. "Do you know Doctor Arlinde De Sena?"

"Yeah, er rather, I know _about_ her. She's a scientist from Vacuo," this was a weird turn of conversation. "She won a Nightingale Award for her work about using aura to speed up the effects of certain medicines."

"She was the head of a think tank in Atlas concerning Aura Studies before she passed last year, and that group has partnered with Beacon Academy to archive her journals along with a few other things." He said and grabbed his mug. "Unfortunately, the intern responsible for this project had to leave for a family emergency and won't be returning to finish."

"Oh," she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "What'll happen to the project?"

"Well," Ozpin grinned. "I suppose that's where you come in, Miss Hazelwood." He took a sip of his drink. "As part of the work-study program, you have the clearance to transfer from your work with Doctor Oobleck to this project. Additionally, since a rather trusted colleague has recommended you and we are on a bit of a deadline before we must return the journals, I see no reason not to have you start transcribing as soon as possible."

Wait what.

"Pardon?" she furrowed her brows.

"Yes?" he returned with a tilt of his head.

"Uhm, I don't mean to be rude but," she pursed her lips and tried to gather her disjointed thoughts. "Isn't there anyone else who could do it? I mean, I just- I would feel bad about leaving Doctor Oobleck this far along."

"Perhaps," he relented. "But as I said, we're on a tight deadline and you're more than qualified for the position. You were Qrow's assistant for your last year at Signal, correct?"

"Yes, I was" she lightly tugged at the hem of her skirt.

"Then I'm sure you can decrypt just about anyone's handwriting," he smiled reassuringly (though given her history it did little to reassure her). "He spoke very highly of your work ethic."

She smiled back to be polite and tucked her misgivings beneath her tongue.

"Now," Ozpin clapped his hands together. "When you come in tomorrow morning, you'll need to check in with me so I can update your badge," he motioned to the plastic clipped to her shirt. "And work on a few other details."

"Of course," she said and stood at the obvious dismissal. "See you tomorrow, headmaster."

"Until then," he waved her away.

Lumi leaned against the wall on the elevator ride down and sighed heavily. Oobleck was _not_ going to be happy about her transfer- not that she was all that happy about it either. The new job had come out of nowhere- just when she'd gotten used to her first one too!- and it was going to be a pain to pick up her new responsibilities while also rushing to meet a deadline.

The doors whooshed open and she strode out. Someone was going to have to tell the green-haired doctor if they hadn't already (and she had the sneaking suspicion that they hadn't, not in person and not when he was actively paying attention at least) which meant her day was only going to get more difficult.

Joy.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Part three of five.

* * *

 **-[-]-**

 **SUMMER BETWEEN YEAR 1 AND YEAR 2 OF BEACON ACADEMY (SUMMER BEFORE RWBY CANON)**

 **-[-]-**

Professor Goodwitch was away on a well-deserved vacation somewhere far, far away from paperwork and Vytal Festival preparations, and in the interest of having such important documents near to the headmaster, she had kindly offered up her office to become Lumi's new workspace.

It was a clutter-free, but not cold, room with neatly arranged bookshelves covering most of the walls and (quite frankly, _boring_ ) landscape paintings on the rest. She had a few knick-knacks and pictures on (clearly designated) shelves and her desk was nestled against a wide window which had a grand view of the school grounds. There was a tall, skinny tree in the corner which helped the clean, efficient space feel a little friendlier despite the plain cream walls and awful, generic carpet.

Basically, it was everything Lumi remembered from the few times she'd been called there to be reprimanded and the thought of staying there for hours every day (even if Goodwitch was away) produced a small knot of anxiety in the pit of her stomach. She pushed aside the feeling and focused on Professor Ozpin as he relayed what, exactly, she'd be doing for the next three-ish weeks.

A lot of reading, it turned out. She had to transcribe (flowcharts and pictures included) Dr. De Sena's journals in addition to summarizing and indexing a thick stack of files that ranged from experimental aura studies to proposed theories and their scathing rebuttals. That alone would keep her busy for the next month, but since she was in Goodwitch's office instead of the tiny desk tucked away in the library basement where the last intern worked, she had to play secretary for the powerful Huntress and the Headmaster. It was a fuck-ton of work for one person and not only was she the lucky lady to get handed the position, but she also had a serious deadline on top of it- because life couldn't be _easy_ or _simple_.

She seated herself at the ergonomic keyboard and firm but cushy office chair then booted up the computer and checked how much work Temp_1278 had managed to get done before their untimely family emergency.

 **-[-]-**

Lumi finished off the first week- well, two days considering the timing- without any trouble and threw together a rough but workable schedule that would help her get everything done on time. She'd have to stay until five instead of her usual three o' clock to log in the necessary number of hours, but since she'd finish with work a week earlier than if she'd stayed with Oobleck she tried not to mind too much- which was easier said than done especially when she had to scan in every page of the three journals without unbinding them.

Bright and early on Monday morning she let herself into Goodwitch's office after a quick check in with Ozpin and just managed to turn on the computer before an irate Huntsman broke down the door with heavy handed knocking and loud complaints.

"Glynda, y'heartless witch!" he exclaimed and Lumi wondered if she could hide under the desk to avoid the situation. "Open up!"

Well, he knew _someone_ was in there so hiding wouldn't help her.

"Hello," she peeked from around the doorframe. "Can I help you, sir?"

"You're not Glynda." He narrowed his eyes at her and glanced at the metal plaque bolted into the wall with purpose.

"Professor Goodwitch is on vacation," she explained. "She'll be back a week before the term starts."

"Hmph, slippery harpy!" he placed his hands on his hips. "I take it that ol' bastard Ozpin's gone too?"

"The headmaster is here," she stated and hoped he took the cue to calm the fuck down. "Did you need to see him?"

"Did I-" he spluttered. "Did I need to see him, she asks!" He motioned sharply. " 'Course I do!"

 _Well I'm not a mind reader,_ she groused internally, _how was I supposed to know who you wanted to see? You came to Goodwitch's office._

"Please wait here, I'll call him right now," she gave him a tight smile and slipped away before he could shout abuse at her.

It took a minute, but Ozpin picked up and after a brief description of who came knocking (she hadn't gotten his name) he okayed the man and asked her to escort him up the elevator. She obliged unhappily but hid her true feelings and grinned at the mismatched pair when she dropped the Huntsman off.

Mildly stressed, she collapsed into her seat and gave herself ten minutes to drink coffee and stare at the ceiling before she pulled out the first journal and set to work. Temp_1278 hadn't actually gotten around to transcribing anything, which Lumi was a little irritated with, but at least they'd done all of the summaries so that reduced her impossible workload to something that was still difficult but definitely doable.

She took a short break before lunch and casually explored the floor to stretch her legs and sate her curiosity but it mostly consisted of empty conference rooms. With a sigh, she grabbed her things (including a fresh loaf of honey bread) and rode the elevator up to the headmaster's office. When she worked with Dr. Oobleck- which had been less than a week ago- there hadn't been a need to check in two or three times a day, but Ozpin wanted to know when she got in, went home or left campus for lunch so up she went.

"Ozpin, you selfish dog, you didn't tell me you had such a pretty assistant!" a husky, feminine voice purred as the doors slid open.

"Ah, thank you?" Lumi stepped into the room and raised a confused brow at the compliment.

"Miss Hazelwood, you have tremendous timing," Ozpin smiled wryly. "If you could please escort Marmalade out before you leave for lunch, that would help these old bones greatly."

He looked like he was the same age as her dad, maybe a little older, so she didn't quite get the "old bones" part of his joke, but an order was an order so she bobbed her head and said, "Of course, headmaster."

"Later, old man," Marmalade called over her shoulder and wrapped an arm around Lumi. "So, _Miss Hazelwood_ , do you have a first name?"

The doors closed behind them but Lumi was sure she heard Ozpin laugh at her before they did.

"It's Lumi," she said and rolled her shoulders to dislodge the tall, shapely huntress' arm off. Just because the other woman was attractive didn't mean she was going to cuddle up against a stranger.

She shot the younger woman a mega-watt smile. "How cute, just like you."

… was this woman hitting on her? Like, honestly hitting on her? Lumi didn't think she was anything special, though she was flattered by the attention.

"Thanks," she tugged at a pleat of her skirt. "I like your jacket."

"I had wind Dust embroidered on the back," she turned and showed off the intricate design that had initially caught Lumi's attention.

She nodded and checked what number floor they were on out of the corner of her eye.

"The tailor's not that far from this new Vacuo-style restaurant that just opened up last month- if you'd like to grab a bite to eat with me and check it out?" She winked.

"Thank you," Lumi said despite her bewilderment. "But I'm still a student."

"Whoops, thought you were older," Marmalade took a measured step away. "And not to be creepy, but what year are you? You look really put together for a student- way more than I was anyway, not that that's hard. See, I was mess until my teammates dragged me to the shops my third year…"

The rest of the ride proceeded with banal chatter and they parted ways in the courtyard with an energetic wave from the Huntress and a small but genuine smile from Lumi.

Nothing happened after lunch or the next two days after, which she was thankful for. She was less thankful for the overly-friendly businessman who kept blatantly checking her out when Ozpin's attention was turned elsewhere on what was supposed to be a _short_ tour of the school but she gritted her teeth until it was over.

She nearly lost her composure when Ozpin dismissed the pair of them with the words "my assistant will see you to your ship, Mr. Brackwater" but managed to find hitherto unknown reserves of patience and calmly walked the smiling man down the front avenue of the school as he boasted about his career. Again, she was tested when he shook one of her hands goodbye with both of his and pressed a business card into her limp palm- babbled something about how a young woman like her could find a better salary if she came to work for his company and surely Oz wouldn't begrudge him stealing such obvious talent away, would he?

He laughed and boarded the airship, but Lumi was already gone by the time he turned on his heel. She shadow-stepped onto her floor of the CCT and trashed the card then washed her hands with prejudice. Brackwater might've been a pretty boy in his youth, but he was pushing fifty and she was decidedly _not_ interested in a self-centered civilian like him. Especially since his line about "obvious talent" was just a cover for the fact that he found her nice to look at and thought she'd make good décor for his building's lobby.

For lunch she dropped some more baked things in the teachers' lounge then swung by Oobleck's office and helped him with his work while he chattered about the strategic significance of some battle or another for some war they'd be going over either late in her second year or early in her third. It was a nice change from her quiet mornings staring at a screen, quiet lunches eating alone, and quiet afternoons staring at the screen (still).

"Ah, but enough about that, my dear," he sipped at his (warm) coffee. "How is your new job? I'm sure Professor Ozpin has you doing a great many things to assist him what with the Vytal Festival coming up."

Lumi couldn't hold back the knee-jerk frown that found its way onto her face.

"Oh?" he raised a brow and peeked over his glasses at her. "Is something the matter?"

She fidgeted in place. "Not… exactly. The work is interesting- the headmaster has me transcribing the journals of Dr. Arlinde De Sena, but…" she trailed off with vague gesture. "I'm pulling double-duty as his secretary of sorts and the people who come to meet him are… _friendlier_ than I'm used to."

He sat up at that and Lumi rushed to continue before he could start. "The last guy- _Brackwater of Brackish Solutions_ -" she mocked. "Tried to hire me to work for him but well, I'm not _actually_ a secretary. Aside from that, it's been pretty nice. I'm using Professor Goodwitch's office to work and she has a great view of the campus."

Oobleck hummed thoughtfully.

"Of course," she pasted a teasing smile onto her face. "It's not nearly as great as working with you and getting to hear all the little historical tidbits you like to mutter to yourself when you forget I'm here."

He laughed at that. "I sometimes forget that you _aren't_ here. Why, I've gotten so used to having you around that I catch myself still asking you to fetch me things!"

A more genuine smile found its way onto her face and she basked in the familiarity until it was time to go back to the lonely office and trudge through the last few pages of De Sena's first journal. Friday was another day with nothing exciting happening and to celebrate her new job she, Calypso and Diane were going out to eat at the restaurant Marmalade had recommended.

Despite the tacky decorations, the food was well worth the price-tag and the inability to breathe normally after having their mouths burned by the copious amount of chili in the dishes. Cally, who was actually from Vacuo, remarked that it tasted like home and that she'd have to drag Briar in one of these days for a date. Lumi rolled her eyes over the rim of her glass- Briar hated spicy food so Calypso had her work cut out for her if she wanted to convince the girl to eat there.

 **-[-]-**

On Saturday Lumi baked and let her siblings lick the bowls as long as they promised to wash dishes. A little grumbling and several (unsuccessful) attempts at theft later, they begrudgingly agreed and descended on the raw batter like wolves. When they had their fill and everything was in the oven or chilling in the fridge in preparation for the next step of a recipe, the violet-eyed trio settled in for a marathon of the Harold Putter movies. It took intense dedication and indomitable will, but they managed to get through four of the seven movies before Nocte complained that her brain was turning to mush. Ash echoed the sentiment and claimed that he couldn't feel his eyes anymore after staring at the screen for nearly eight hours.

Lumi reminded them that they had dishes to do and cackled in delight when they immediately whined and begged to do it tomorrow. She relented, on the condition that they help her cook, to which they groaned about but agreed to.

Ah, it was good to be a big sister.

On Sunday she allowed herself to go to Forever Fall for a few hours with her mother with whom her relationship was rocky and ever-changing, and ended up with a twisted knee that (fortunately) didn't take too long to heal. A few minutes short of her self-imposed curfew, she got a text from Branwen for the first time in over a week and kicked aside her usual sleep schedule to stay up to talk to him. As usual when he was MIA for a while, he brought up a few first-aid questions that were worrisome but a quick selfie showing that he had all of his limbs still attached quieted her fears- for the moment.

Monday through Wednesday flew by with nothing special- aside from horrific pictures of whatever had gained sentience in Branwen's fridge and another Hunter who eyed her like a piece of meat- but things came to a crashing halt on Thursday when Branwen came to visit her at work before he his meeting with Ozpin and knocked a mug of coffee onto the journals- the _incredibly important_ , not yet transcribed journals. She shooed him out of the room with an order to grab as many paper towels as he could while she quickly dialed the headmaster's number.

The call was denied but the video-call icon appeared on her computer screen immediately after. She fixed her appearance as best she could and hit "accept."

"Good morning, headmaster Ozpin," Lumi smiled politely. "There was a small incident with the journals but it's being resolved as we speak." She nodded with conviction. "I just wanted to inform you of that, but like I said, it's under con-"

"There aren't any paper towels on this whole fuckin' floor!" Qrow loudly exclaimed then picked up a journal and in plain view of the camera where Ozpin sat with wide-eyes, he shook the priceless, one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable handwritten journals of _Arlinde De Sena_ like a ragdoll.

Fuck.

Lumi cleared her throat. "Uh, well, I need to grab something from home but I will return shortly."

Before either man could respond, she ducked under the desk and willed herself to appear at the docks of Beacon. After two more trips she found herself at home and quickly ransacked the cabinets for a roll of paper towels then snagged a hair dryer from the bathroom and rushed through the shadows back to her office. She was panting and weak-kneed by the end of her trip, but she managed to snag the leather-bound notebook from her former teacher and slide single sheets of paper towels between the slowly darkening pages.

Branwen, thankfully, took initiative and swiped a few paper towels to mop up the desk while she worked. When everything was as clean as it would get, he chucked the mess in the trash and walked off with a quickly muttered apology- which was fine with Lumi because there wasn't much else he could do and her nerves were frayed. She took the chance to lean back in her chair and press a hand to her racing heart.

"It's alright," she told herself and breathed slowly. "Everything will be okay."

Her heartrate slowed to a not-quite-frantic pace so she plugged in the hair dryer and let the drone of the motor sucking in and spewing out cool air calm her the rest of the way. She didn't hear anything from the headmaster or Branwen for the rest of the day but continued transcribing as best she could with the ruined pages. Whatever kind of pen the late scientist had used, the ink was quick to smear when wet and she couldn't read through mess of ink and coffee so she set the physical copy aside and worked from the scanned version instead.

She went home at five, unwilling to stay longer than that, and treated herself to a long, hot bath. Briar was sympathetic when Lumi called her to complain (she'd never been hit on this much in her life! plus the _journal_ , ugh), and offered to treat her to Stirbucks the next time they met up, which was more than her flakey ex-teacher did.

Said flake texted her "yikes oz is not happy abt this" just shy of eleven o' clock and "sry chickadee" a couple of minutes after that- but she was already asleep and since she overslept the next morning, she didn't see the messages until she was in the elevator in the CCT on the way up to check in with Ozpin for the first time of the day.

Anxiety plucked at her nerves like an amateur harpist and she had to remind herself that following through with the impulse to shadow-step far, far away Beacon until the summer ended meant she wouldn't get paid. When the doors slid open with an ominous ding, she strode forward with false-confidence.

"Good morning, headmaster," she bobbed her head in deference.

"Good morning, Miss Hazelwood," Ozpin grinned but it didn't reach his eyes.

Her heart beat a staccato against her ribs as she stood just behind one of the chairs but didn't sit.

"How goes your work?" he asked and redirected his attention from his computer screen to her.

"Well," she said with a shaky smile. "I transcribed most of the second journal- despite yesterday's accident."

"So you were able to lift the stains from the pages?" he cocked his head. "Wonderful! I'm sure James will be pleased to hear that." Another grin, this one wider and more genuine. "He was incredibly concerned when he heard. Doctor De Sena's work is on the forefront of aura studies and we were quite fortunate to have the chance to study her personal notes."

Fuck.

"Oh, uh, not… exactly," she murmured and plucked at a bit of lint on her shirt. "Some of the pages are ruined- completely unreadable."

He sighed. "Well these things do happen. Were you able to transcribe those pages beforehand?"

"No, but," she stared to the left of his head. "I scanned all of the journals when I first started, so I can still work on it- if you'll keep me."

"Of course," he brightened. "You have great foresight, Lumi- though I suppose I can expect nothing less of the woman who kept Qrow's scatterbrain on track for a year."

"You're too kind," she shifted her stance. "Is that all, headmaster?"

He nodded and she took it for the dismissal it was. She slumped against the elevator wall and sighed heavily on the way down but pulled herself together and dedicated herself to finishing the second journal as quickly as she could. With her longer hours she'd been able to finish up the files, but she hadn't started on the third journal yet and next week was her last.

 **-[-]-**

Around three there was a knock at the door so she saved her work and called, "Come in."

"Glynda Goodwitch?" he said and poked his head in.

Despite his Atlesian accent, something about his face reminded her of her teammate Reg- maybe it was the cheekbones?

"She's out on vacation, I'm afraid," she inclined her head in his direction. "But I'm her assistant. Was there something you needed?"

He crossed the room and seated himself into one of the (uncomfortable) chairs across from her. "I've got a work-order to look over the aura monitors in the classrooms, but I can't get in and one of the janitors pointed me this way. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the headmaster's office either."

"One moment please," she nodded and dialed Ozpin's office.

After a short conversation, she found out that the man in front of her was an Atlesian engineer that Headmaster Ironwood had sent over, and her new job was to guide him around campus and let him into the rooms so he could do maintenance on the finicky aura monitors and such.

"Well Mr. Barron," she stood and tucked her Scroll into her purse. "I'm your guide for today it seems. Shall we get going?"

"Call me Russ," he said with a grin as they left the office.

She politely returned the gesture and led him to the nearest classroom. On the walk there, he insistently held out his arm so she relented and wrapped her hand just above his elbow as she described the campus. Her short spiel about Beacon over, he started in about Atlas' military and its support branch- which he was apart of- and how he'd graduated early which lead to him being one of the youngest engineers in his sector at only thirty two years old.

He kept talking about himself as they moved classrooms, and while she didn't particularly care about his life, it meant that she didn't have to fill the silence so she let him ramble and tossed in a few questions when it fit. He started a more involved discussion, but even that didn't require significantly more response from her so she didn't mind too much.

Nearing the end of the circuit, he walked a little slower-closer- then took her hand and rubbed his thumb across the back of hers as he attempted to persuade her to go to dinner with him by citing their "great chemistry" and all of the "looks" she'd been sending his way.

She broke his monologue with a blunt "no thanks" but of course that didn't stop him. Her eyes narrowed when he gripped her hand a little tighter and stepped close enough that his shirt brushed against her captive arm.

"Let go of me," she said and gathered the shadows under her feet.

"Come on, Lumi," he pleaded with a grin. "Don't be like that- we were getting along so well."

"Let go, now," she hissed and drew herself to full height when he set his jaw in stubborn denial.

"I would listen to her, if I were you," a familiar, energetic voice broke in.

"This doesn't concern you," Russ ground out.

"Ah, but it _does_ concern my student, who has kindly asked you to step away." Oobleck challenged coolly.

While he was distracted, Lumi broke his grip (refrained from breaking his arm like she so desperately wanted to) and slipped away through the shadows. She jabbed her Scroll at the door to her office then threw herself into her chair when it let her in. A soul-deep groan of agony filled the air as she considered, not for the first or last time that day, quitting her job.

She hated answering the phone, hated sitting and staring at a screen for hours every day, hated dealing with the people who showed up looking for Goodwitch and Ozpin amd who treated her like a piece of office decoration or hit on her despite her obvious disinterest- if it hadn't been part of her work-study and Branwen hadn't recommended her to the headmaster personally, she would have walked out already! Personal journals of De Sena or not, she didn't need this kind of stress in her life.

After a quick glance to the clock, she grabbed her things and quickly checked in with Ozpin then headed home. She was irritated and in a foul mood after two days of constant harassment and chaos, but she wasn't a hasty idiot and there was only a week left of her job- she could stick it out that long to finish up. Not that her begrudging resolve to suffer through the last bit precluded her from complaining…

"If ever there was a time to drink," she grumbled under her breath and flopped onto bed. "This would be it. Ugh, that clingy fuck."

She let her shitty mood run its course then grabbed what remained and crammed it into a tiny box- which she promptly set on fire and kicked off a very tall cliff. Emotions dealt with, she went downstairs to the kitchen where a loaf of banana nut bread was calling her name.

 **-[-]-**

By Monday she felt markedly better and resolved to finish transcribing the last journal as quickly as possible. To her relief, there were no grumpy Hunters waiting for her and she had no distractions until just before lunchtime when Ozpin called her to his office. She checked her e-mail on the way up and noticed a message from Doctor Oobleck from over the weekend. The doors opened before she could read it, so she tucked her curiosity aside and slipped her Scroll into her cross-body purse.

"Good afternoon, Miss Hazelwood," Ozpin stood and motioned for her to sit before taking his seat again.

Weird, but okay...

"Afternoon headmaster," she adjusted her purse to lay on her lap instead of against her hip. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes," he pursed his lips then rearranged his features into a soft smile. "How are you today?"

There was no way he was going to fire her because of the coffee thing last week, right? That hadn't even been her fault- plus, she had a scanned copy of the journals so it wasn't like the work was completely lost either!

"I'm well," she responded and tried to calm her paranoid nerves.

He nodded and laced his fingers together. "Now, Lumi, I'm going to have to ask you to be completely honest with me."

OH FUCK OH FUCK WHAT DID HE KNOW WHAT WAS SHE IN TROUBLE FOR FUCK FUCK FUC-

"This is a… rather delicate topic," he continued despite her internal freak out. "But as the headmaster here at Beacon Academy, I am obligated to look into any and all reports of this nature. Please understand that you are not in trouble," he reassured her. "Nor are you at fault. Doctor Oobleck-"

 _What the fuck did Oobleck have to do with any of this_

"and I are merely concerned about your well-being. So again, I ask you to be honest with me when I ask if any of the people you've met or worked with in your time here have sexually harassed you- in a physical manner or otherwise."

Wait **what**.

"Uh," she drawled inelegantly as her brain attempted to put thoughts into words. "No? Or, rather, not _really_?"

"What do you mean by 'not really'?" he asked with concern.

"I mean- I just," she shifted uncomfortably in place. "Uhm, some people have been flirting with me, but most stop when they find out I'm still a student and it's not very serious flirting to begin with," she downplayed with small wave of her hand.

"And Russ Barron?" He prodded.

She grimaced. "He was... pushy- but a thirty year old engineer isn't much of a match for a second-year."

He hummed. "Some would say it's the other way around."

She smiled weakly. "Well, I can assure you that with the training I've received here, I could handle Grimm more than twice his size. He doesn't register as much of a problem to me."

"Either way, he has been reprimanded and taken off the project," the headmaster opened a drawer. "If you'd like to press charges, I can draw up the paperwork for you," he laid a thin packet of official looking papers in front of her.

She pushed the forms back across the glass-topped desk without a second glance. "No thank you."

"Very well," he adjusted his glasses. "As I have nothing else to discuss at the moment, you're free to go."

Lumi stood and bowed her head then fled as nonchalantly as she could.

One week, she reminded herself all the way down, one more week.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Part four of five. There's a lot of Qrow in this chapter ;)

* * *

 **-[-]-**

 **SUMMER BETWEEN YEAR 1 AND YEAR 2 OF BEACON ACADEMY (SUMMER BEFORE RWBY CANON)**

 **-[-]-**

Lumi finished transcribing the last journal shortly after lunch on Thursday, which pleased Ozpin to no end, so _of course_ he arranged for himself, her, and Headmaster Ironwood to have a video conference on her work the very next day-

because he obviously _hated_ her. That was it. There could be no other explanation for his actions other than pure, unbridled malice. Why else would he throw her at the feet of General Ironwood mere hours after she finished her work?

Therefore, she carefully selected her outfit and showered with the upmost attention paid to scrubbing, scouring, and moisturizing her skin so that it _glowed_ when the video conference took place on Friday morning.

In the end, however, her efforts proved mostly futile. She gave a fifteen minute summary of the three journals, answered a few clarifying questions, and was off the call shortly before the half-hour mark. All in all, pretty anti-climatic. She was left to her own devices until lunch, so she cleaned up Goodwitch's office and trekked down to Oobleck's class for something to do. The caffeine-crazed professor was more than happy to see her and pushed a stack of papers into her arm that needed to be scanned, copied en masse, made into packets, and stored somewhere until school started back up.

Since she had nothing better to do, she did as he asked and was rewarded with a sneak peek at the work her class would receive when the term began in a few weeks. She probably wouldn't remember much- if anything- of the packet, but it was neat to see. While she worked, she set her Scroll to play music and hummed along to the melody. Midway through a heart-wrenching chorus about never coming home again, a familiar raspy voice cut through the din.

"Is this what kids are callin' music these days?"

Lumi glanced over her shoulder at Branwen, who wore a grimace and had one hand raised in a lazy wave. She rolled her eyes at him and hit the pause button.

"Good morning to you too, Mr. Branwen," she mocked.

"Ouch, _Mister_ Branwen?" he placed a hand to his heart. "When did I get demoted, chickadee?"

"Last week, when you left without saying anything," she drawled and set the copy machine to make 52 copies.

"Hm," he scratched the scruffy hair along his jaw. "Coffee a good apology?"

"Two cups," she countered. "Those pages were unsalvageable."

"Deal," Branwen nodded. "So what's been up with you?"

"I had a video conference with General Ironwood," she motioned to her carefully constructed outfit. "And today's my last day on the job."

He gawked at her. "Shit, did you get _fired_?" A creeping sense of guilt churned in his gut at the thought.

"No no no no no," she assured him with a frantic waving motion. "When I got transferred to this project, the timeframe was shifted so today's my last day instead of it being next week like it would have been with Doctor Oobleck."

"Oh," he breathed. "Alright then."

"Don't worry." She bumped her shoulder against his arm. "How was your mission?"

"Eh, pretty normal- boring mostly," he wrapped one arm around her in their customary hug.

"For you, boring is a good thing," she teased as she transferred the fresh copies to the side table and set a new page in the copy machine. "Nothing new then?"

"Nah," he leaned against the wall. "Though that one action movie is comin' out soon…"

They passed the hour chatting then Qrow excused himself for a meeting with Ozpin while Lumi gathered the newly prepared packets and swept down the hall to Oobleck's class. The be-spectacled huntsman was off in his own world so she tidied up the space and sat in her usual spot when she was done.

It was a nice way to end the day.

 **-[-]-**

Yang was eager to finish up school shopping, and had invited Lumi along as both a mentor and a fellow teenage girl (because her dad honestly thought getting a pair of sheets with flames printed on them was a cool). Ruby, of course, came with them and since it was the tail-end of summer, Lumi had Ash and Nocte along for the trip so they could knock out all their shopping in one fell swoop.

However, she'd forgotten that they were all teenagers (and wasn't _that_ a terrifying thought?) and lost the three youngest of their group to the bright, shiny allure of the video game demonstration area almost immediately upon walking into the store.

"Ooh, Super Death Ninjas 3 is out," Yang said with a sparkle in her eyes.

"I'm sure it'll be there when we're done shopping," Lumi drawled and tugged the taller girl away.

"No- wait!" She made grabby hands at the display but didn't put up much effort.

"Flame sheets," she reminded the other girl. "Your dad was going to get you flame sheets."

She sniffled dramatically and pushed her cart alongside the older girl. "Your sacrifice will not be in vain, Super Death Ninjas 3!"

Well, she wasn't actually sacrificing anything. When one took into account the fact that Yang hadn't bought much aside from some new clothes, Dust, and maintenance stuff for Ember Celica, Lumi was the one making actual sacrifices to help her get it all on time.

"Do I need a microwave?" Yang flipped through a catalog of "home goods 4 the young adult!" (and yes, the "for" was written with the number "4.")

"Mm, not really?" Lumi motioned her hand from side to side. "There are kitchens on every floor."

"Gotcha," she nodded.

The grey and black haired girl tossed in a few lightbulbs for the house after she checked the wattage, then flashed her companion a thumbs up when she waved around a box of white fairy lights. (She would later remember that fairy lights were banned because of the many fires caused by forgetful students but that was a problem for future her.) They pushed their steadily weightier haul from aisle to aisle, joined by their younger siblings at random.

"Are you done yet?"

"Not yet," Lumi looked between two different cork boards.

"Are you done yet?"

"No," Yang dribbled a bright pink bouncy ball from three aisles ago.

"Are you done-?"

"No!" Lumi waved a pack of hangers menacingly at Nocte. "Now shoo!"

"Hey sis, are-"

"Aaaah!" Yang untangled her hair from where a stand of earrings had snagged it and Ruby ran away when she saw a few blonde strands stuck on the metal.

For her part, Lumi grabbed her basket, threw in a pack of tangle-proof rubber bands and high-tailed it to the check-out line. A quick text to Ash and Nocte brought them to her side and they happily ignored the chaos going on behind them at the promise of ice cream.

Somehow, Yang didn't get kicked out of the store and she plodded towards the check-out with a forcefully cheerful Ruby at her heels and barely contained fury in her eyes. Wisely, no one mentioned it and by the time their purchases were all packed up and cups of ice cream were in their hands, everyone was settled and no longer murderous.

Conversation flowed freely in the chaotic, fun way that was so typical of teenagers with everyone jumping topics then doubling back with funny (or not so funny, in the case of Yang's terrible puns) remarks and trying to catch the others off-guard by knocking spoons out of each other's hands.

Naturally, it was this point that Verbena Hazelwood, esteemed mother of the year called and Lumi rushed outside to answer while assuring her siblings and friends that she would be back in a minute.

"Hi, mom," she curled her hand around the speaker to cover the noise of the ice cream shop.

"Where are you?" she asked without preamble.

For a brief moment she wondered if Branwen was around or if this was her own shitty luck manifesting once again but then decided that it didn't really matter. Either way, she wasn't getting out of this call.

"Out shopping for school supplies with Nocte and Ash," she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"And your father?" The sneer was evident in her voice.

"At home," she pursed her lips and glanced at the stream of people walking by, enjoying their day, not on the phone with their terrible mother.

"Figures," she refrained from insulting him, at least. "Couldn't be bothered to take his own children out for a day? Pathetic." well, so much for not insulting him. "But I didn't call to discuss Delphinus' faults. Aunt Magnolia's daughter, Camellia, is getting married next week and we'll be leaving at three on Friday, so get your brother and sister ready by twelve."

"Okay," she demurred and glanced at her siblings. Hopefully they didn't have any plans. "I'll see to it."

"We'll be staying for two nights," she added. "Bring your weapon."

She grimaced. "I don't think customs will let me," she said with a faux apologetic tone. "I'm only a student." Well, she didn't know if that was true but hoped like hell it was. "I can look into it before we go?"

Her sigh was crystal clear and as heavy as a brick. "Get back to me on that."

"Will do," it was a bald-faced lie.

"Alright," Verbena adjusted her hold on her Scroll. "I'll let you go now. I'll be wearing that purple dress, the one with the-" if she said floral pattern Lumi was going to scream- "sheath silhouette."

Which meant Lumi needed to also wear something purple, and make sure Ash and Nocte did too. Which, wow, how original. It wasn't like they always wore purple to every family event because of their shared eye color or anything.

"Okay," she said and felt her finger twitch.

"I'll see you then," she hung up.

Lumi mocked the imperial tone her mother used and pocketed her Scroll. She schooled her features into a happy, not-aggravated, grin and strolled back to her group.

"Guess who's getting married?" she called when she was close enough.

Ruby gasped. "But you're only a second year!"

"Lumi's never going get married," Nocte interjected. "She's going to stay at home forever and when I get my second mansion she's going to move in with me."

"Camellia- it's Camellia who's getting married." In her heart of hearts, she might have found this cute but that was easily overshadowed by her irritation. "And why am I moving into your _second_ mansion?"

"Well _obviously_ dad gets the first one," Nocte said.

Ash nodded along to Nocte's explanation then asked around his spoon, "Married to who?" (which ended up sounding more like mae-heeh taa hnh but whatever).

"Her boyfriend, uh, fiancé," Lumi corrected and picked up her suspiciously lighter cup of ice cream. "You know, Haru?"

"Wait, was he the one with the," Ash stuck his fists to the side of his head and kept his pointer fingers extended to mimic horns.

Lumi smacked his hand. "Don't be rude! And that's Oyama's boyfriend, Somal."

"Wow, you guys have a big family, huh?" Yang noted and shoveled another bite of caramel fudge brownie explosion into her mouth.

"Yeah," she grumbled and side-eyed her siblings. "And sometimes they steal your ice cream when you're not looking."

Nocte started whistling and Ash looked away with a ditzy "I'm totally innocent" demeanor.

"But it's gotta be nice sometimes, right?" Ruby added.

"It can be," Lumi admitted. "We don't see much of each other except during breaks though, so parties always feel more like interrogations but it's not all bad. What's your family like?"

Ruby shrugged. "It's just me, Yang, dad and Uncle Qrow soooo- not that interesting."

She glanced at Yang from the corner of her eye and noted the sudden tension in her jaw and shoulders. "I don't know if I'd say that. Yang told me some great stories about you two…" she grinned mischievously. "Like that one time, when you put Zwei in a wagon and tried to run away with only a couple juice boxes and half a box of cookies."

"Noooo," Ruby tugged her hood over her face. "That was so embarrassing!"

She chuckled to herself and got swept up in the many conversation threads that arose. She had to bury her face in her hands in agony when Nocte told the story about the time she and Ash tried to scare Lumi, only for Lumi to knock Nocte's front tooth out (this was, of course, followed by the story of when she tied floss from one of Ash's loose baby teeth to the bathroom door and only succeeded in cutting up his gums).

The mortifying stories came to a sudden halt when her siblings caught sight of her murderous stare, quickly replaced by talk of what games were coming out soon and which ones they wanted to get. That lasted as they moved into the car and drove to a different set of stores to pick up actual school supplies (i.e. pens, paper, binders, etc) and continued in fits and spurts until they went home.

 **-[-]-**

"What the hell were you doing?" Lumi huffed and slid the stained, cotton tank-top off Branwen's dirty torso. "Mud-wrestling every Grimm from here to Vacuo?"

"Wish I was mud-wrestling," Qrow sat up and hissed. "You should've seen our group leader."

She rolled her eyes. "Get in the shower, you dirty old man."

"C'mon chickadee, don't be like that." He wrapped an arm around her and she was hit with the full force of his body odor, a week's worth of dirt, sweat, blood and sand.

She gagged. "Ugh, get off," she jabbed him with a finger's worth of aura.

He chuckled then stopped suddenly when the action made the sharp, burning sensation in ribs flare back to life. She raised a brow at that and crossed her arms. The sound of her foot tapping against the hardwood was loud in the otherwise silence of the apartment.

"Yeah yeah," he took the hint and trudged into the bathroom. "No need to nag."

Lumi held her tongue and retreated to the kitchen. While Branwen used all the hot water in the building (and knocked over every bottle in the shower at least twice, she noted with a vindicated smile) she rifled through his fridge and cabinets for something edible. Sadly, there was nothing aside from freezer burned E-Z Meals and random ingredients so she gave up on cooking and ordered in. Normally she would cook or stop by the store for something quick, but she'd left Mistral early that morning and was running purely off the dregs of energy the weekend hadn't sucked out of her.

From what he'd said (and more notably, what he hadn't said) she knew that he was low on Aura and had a few "non-major" injuries- the stitches on his back and dark bruise down one side of his ribs, for example- which meant that even with healing and her strict instructions not to drink or spar, he'd be down for a little under a week (a full week if he ignored her warnings, which he sometimes did).

Not for the first time, she contemplated signing him up for those "meal in a box" service things that delivered all the ingredients to make the featured recipe of the week, but decided against it again. Well, maybe if he was nice she'd offer to do his grocery shopping (or more accurately, drag him along when she went).

Twenty short minutes later, Qrow strolled out of the bathroom clad in a pair of old flannel pants and his iconic necklace, smelling strongly of his needlessly expensive soap (which confused her to no end because he could spend money on fancy soap and shaving cream but couldn't bother to buy real food? Where were his priorities?).

"Alright Healer Hazelwood," he straddled the back of a chair. "Give it to me straight."

"Well Mr. Branwen, you've got nothing to eat and judging from the bruising, you either fractured some ribs or outright broke them," she drawled. "But if you're very good I'll give you a lollipop at the end of your visit."

He nodded along.

"Also," she held up one hand lit with aura. "I'm not an actual Healer and I'm not training to be, so if you die of a punctured lung or something…" she shrugged.

"I promise I won't sue you if I bite it," he placed a mocking hand to his heart.

She slid both hands into his hair and closed her eyes as her aura flowed alongside his. Areas where his body needed healing pulled at her, but she easily resisted and continued her cursory examination.

"Your ribs are definitely fractured," she murmured and noted the minor bruising along his shins in her mind's eye. "But not broken and not out of place."

"Woohoo," he cheered flatly.

"No infection either- not that I can see anyways," she blinked open her eyes and stepped back. "Bruises here and there, couple of small cuts, a scrape or two." She pinched his cheek. "Oh, and this _adorable_ sunburn you've got going on."

He swatted at her.

"Someone's not getting a lollipop," she quipped.

The white energy around her hands shimmered from translucent to opaque as more of it gathered. She brushed her fingers along the planes of his face, neck and shoulders and watched as the irritated red burns faded away. She then turned her attention to the small injuries on his arms and legs and directed her aura to help his along.

He hummed contently as she worked, which she ignored as usual. Some people said healing felt like a warm blanket, fresh out of the dryer on a cold day and others described it as the cool, minty feeling in your mouth when you drank ice water after chewing gum- either way, it was soothing as long as it was done right and that was all she cared about.

Suddenly someone knocked at the door and the noise raised Qrow's hackles, "Who the _fuck_ is here?"

The harsh question and accompanying murderous glare might have been more intimidating if his voice hadn't cracked and if she ignored the fact that he was practically purring under her hands like a kitten.

"I ordered some food," she crossed the combined living area and snagged her purse. "Hope you like Lucky Dragon."

He grumbled something indistinct and shifted in his seat.

Lumi paid and carried the full bags to the living room. "Come sit over here," she started unpacking everything. "It'll make it easier to work on your ribs later."

He lowered himself onto one end of the couch with exaggerated care and limply reached for the food on the coffee table. There was a full foot and half distance between his hand and his goal.

"Oh no," he said. "What am I gonna do."

She rolled her eyes. "Starve."

"And here I thought Healers were supposed to be nice," he watched as she munched on a dumpling and completely ignored him.

She relented after a few pathetic sighs (did he seriously just say the word "sigh"?) and legitimate winces from him. With a roll of her eyes she leaned forward and handed him the cartons of his favorites- fried rice, chow mein, some sort of spicy beef with peppers, and air-fried chicken with a soy/garlic coating. He wasted no time in scarfing everything down as soon as it was in his hands and she had to remind herself that he'd grown up outside of the Kingdoms- although she figured that after twenty years of living alongside civilized people he might've picked up some manners but sadly it was not to be.

Because he was a nice, caring person deep down, Qrow tossed the remote her way in a silent invitation for her to watch whatever she wanted and continued to steadily eat his body weight in food. She flipped to the home renovation channel and smiled smugly when he stopped grumbling ten minutes in and got as invested into the drama of choosing between a master bath renovation and finishing the basement as she did. It cut away to a commercial of some new hot springs in Mistral which boasted about natural minerals that could "rejuvenate the body and brighten skin".

"What a load of garbage," Lumi threw a balled up napkin at the screen.

"Have you ever been to a hot springs?" Branwen asked with a raised brow.

"I went to that exact one actually, with my cousin who just got married on Friday." she explained and stole a piece of chicken from his horde of cartons. "It was nice, but I doubt 'the natural minerals' made my skin any brighter."

He hummed. "What about the one with volcano water?"

She turned to him with a furrowed brow. "…Volcano water?"

"It's black," he stole a dumpling in retaliation. "The spring feeds from the base of some volcano or other."

"I haven't been," she glanced at the screen and noted that it was only a jewelry commercial. "Where's it at?"

He dove into a short description of the area and the attached amenities, then fell silent when the catchy theme song of the home renovation show blared through the speakers. They watched as the on-screen couple went with the master bath option (a good choice, she thought, because they'd see the bathroom a lot more than the basement) and when most of the food was gone she cleaned up. During the next round of commercials she re-arranged Branwen and the few pillows, then crawled onto his lap.

"Someone's cuddly today," he groused and flicked her forehead. "Didn't you already get your hug?"

"Your ribs are fucked," she announced dryly and settled against him. "It's going to take me a while to heal them and this is the most comfortable position I can think of- unless you want to move to your bed?"

His nose scrunched in distaste. "I'll pass."

"Thought so," she pressed her hands to his bruised, fractured side. She sent some aura to numb the area first so he could breathe properly and followed it up by sending tendrils to wrap each rib and direct his own aura to heal the spider web cracks.

He gradually relaxed under her ministrations, going from faced almost completely away from her to curled around her smaller form with an arm slung around her waist sometime between the end of one episode and the start of the next. It was a solid hour before she felt the last few dregs of his aura putter out, at which point she blinked back to awareness and finally realized how they were arranged.

They were a nest of limbs and take-out cartons with Branwen's head was leaned on her crown, her arms wrapped around him and his legs woven around and between hers. It was comfortable- too comfortable, actually, and she wondered how he'd react if she passed out alongside him. She tossed the thought aside when she remembered that her family wanted to grab breakfast in the morning, and they'd definitely notice if she didn't go home and showed up smelling faintly of men's cologne.

"Hey, wake up," she poked his stomach.

He cracked open an eye. "Hm?"

"You're out of Aura," she explained.

He nodded and closed his eyes again.

"Which means I'm done healing you for now," she said and scowled when he hummed and readjusted his hold on her.

She flicked his collar bone. "I'm not sleeping on your old, raggedy couch."

"Not old," he countered sleepily.

"Well I need to get home, so…" she flexed her elbows against his arms. "Let me up."

His arms tightened around her for a second then relaxed as he sighed. "Yeah yeah."

"And you accused me of being cuddly," she huffed with a teasing grin.

He groaned and swatted the air in her general direction. She rolled her eyes and got up to stretch. Branwen slowly pulled himself up then got to his feet and stumbled over to his bedroom.

"Good night," she called in amusement.

He grumbled something indistinct, which was all the cue she needed to gather her things and leave. She made sure the locks were engaged before she shadow stepped away, giggling to herself.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Part five of five!

* * *

 **-[-]-**

 **FALL SEMESTER OF YEAR 2 BEACON ACADEMY (VOLUME 1 OF RWBY CANON; YEAR 1 FOR TEAM RWBY)**

 **-[-]-**

It was a rare, quiet afternoon in team HRLD's dorm room, which Holly and Lumi took full advantage of. The taller girl had missed a few days last week due to being sick and was taking the time to catch up on notes while Lumi lounged on her bed, Scroll in hand. Diane and Regis were elsewhere, either glitter bombing random students or breaking hearts, respectively.

The silence was comfortable between the two saner members of team HRLD, and as Lumi let her thoughts wander she remembered that Beacon was holding a dance for the Vytal Festival.

"What are you wearing to the dance?" She asked as she scrolled down the page of fabrics. Chiffon, tulle, satin, sateen, jacquard… Oh, that was a nice shade of blue...

"What dance?" Holly raised her head from the small nest of books and notes to look at her teammate.

"For the Vytal Festival," she responded off-handedly.

"We're having a dance for that?" she frowned. "I don't remember hearing about it… Did they announce it in class last week when I was sick?"

"No, but I _know_ I heard about a dance from somewhere," she opened up a new tab and went to the school's homepage. A quick search revealed nothing about a dance, though there was plenty about the fact that Beacon was hosting the 40th Vytal Festival and associated tournament.

"Do you remember where you heard it, maybe?" Holly copied over another line of notes.

"I think from Oobleck?" she got up and grabbed her history binder. Her memory was a little fuzzy on details, but his green hair stuck out in her mind for some reason. "I'll go to his office hours and ask." Her syllabus was the first thing she saw when she opened it, and luckily for her, his office hours started in fifteen-ish minutes.

"Well, do you know any of the older students?" she offered and highlighted a few key phrases. "They might know if that's what usually happens. It would save you the trip."

"Maybe, but the last time Beacon hosted the festival was like, 8 years ago or something," she slipped on a pair of shoes. "I'll be back in a minute- make sure Reg doesn't try to take my notes."

"Okay," she waved bye then buried her nose back into her pile.

It was a nice day out, so Lumi walked to the history professor's office instead of using her Semblance. She saw team RWBY on the way there, and almost stopped to say hi but noticed the obvious tension in the group and decided to side-step the whole mess. It took a while for new teams to settle, but half of their team was related so she didn't think they'd take as long to find their groove.

Prof- DOCTOR Oobleck was happy to see her standing outside his office when he arrived, and ushered her in. He offered her a cup of coffee, but she knew very well that he probably didn't have any clean mugs at this time of day and there was no way she was going to wash one when she'd only be around for five minutes.

"No thank you, Doctor Oobleck," she sat down across from him.

" _Doct_ \- Ah, yes well, more for me," he said and topped off his mug. "Now, what is it that I can help you with, Lumi?"

"I remember hearing that there was going to be a dance for the Vytal Festival, but I wasn't sure if I actually heard that or I'm just misremembering something else. Would you happen to know?"

"We are having a dance but it's next semester," he confirmed with a nod. "Professor Ozpin has a meeting scheduled to discuss that on Friday, in fact!" He took a sip. "Now, was there anything else?"

"Well, that was the only school related question I had. But now that I'm here…" she trailed off with a conspiratory gleam in her eye.

The corner of his mouth quirked up. "Yes?"

"Would you like a loaf of honey bread? I baked a little too much when I went home and now my freezer is overflowing." She admitted and tucked a too-long bang behind her ear. "Or maybe some banana nut muffins? I know they're your favorite."

He laughed and the motion made his chair spin in place. "That would be lovely! Though I must remind you that this won't earn you any extra credit."

"I wouldn't dream of it," she responded with a small smile. "I'll bring them by your office hours tomorrow then?"

"Very well," he waved her off. "Have a nice day, Lumi and don't forget that the Mountain Glenn Expansion packet is due tomorrow!"

She nodded and walked back to her dorm. It was nice to be on good terms with her history professor, even if History wasn't her best subject. Diane was sitting on her bed when Lumi got back, rambling about a spar she had with Jules from team JELY wherein she "totally kicked ass."

Lumi waited for a lull in the conversation to fill Holly in on what she'd found out. The deer Faunus was excited to hear about the dance, mostly because it was a school event and therefore it was way less likely to end in the police being called- unlike some of the other parties they'd been to.

Diane laughed boisterously and promised that Jules' party (yes, the same Jules she'd just sparred against) wouldn't end up like the last one they went to.

Holly and Lumi shared a look of mutual misery and silently promised the other that they'd book it at the first sign of trouble.

 **-[-]-**

Four o' clock on a Friday found Qrow tucked into the crook of his heavily worn couch surrounded by a small mountain of take-out while a marathon of house renovation shows blared from the only sometimes glitchy TV. Ever since the clusterfuck of a _situation_ over the summer, Oz had been running him ragged with missions and they had diddly squat to show for it aside from a more complete picture of what Amber had been doing before she hit the road. They still didn't know why the now-comatose Fall Maiden had been attacked (aside from the obvious) or who the attackers had been, or why she'd been singled out (or even if she was).

His head lolled back onto the faded leather back as he sighed and his Scroll chimed to let him know he had two- three new messages. He sat up and rifled through the messy coffee table to find it. The screen lit up at his touch and his notifications told him that he had six missed calls and fourteen emails on top of the three- _four_ \- new texts. A quick peek at the call log revealed that he hadn't missed anyone important, though the texts were from his favorite former student, surprisingly.

Lumi: heyyy branwen quick q if ur free  
L: how close would u say u & the headmaster are?  
L: b/c i rhink im trouble?  
L: *think

Weird. Had Oz somehow found out about the time they'd broken into his office, stolen his spare outfit, and hemmed it half an inch too short? Although, why he'd want to talk to Lumi about that when weeks had passed was anyone's guess.

Qrow: ur team blow up smth they werent supposed to?  
L: no not this time  
L: im the only one who got called in for a "meeting" ;-;  
Q: sux  
Q: ill ask

He hit the mute button for the TV and pulled up Oz's number. It rang, but went to voicemail so either Oz was busy or didn't have his Scroll on him, which was the more likely option. Despite being around when both the CCT network and Scrolls were invented, Glynda was the more technologically competent out of the two of them and Oz often forgot to carry his Scroll with him or take it off silent.

Q: no answer- when do u head to the chopping block?  
L: :( in 20 mins  
Q: sry chickadee  
L: if i die pls take custody of Kuro- hell never survive on his own  
L: also; i love you so like take care of urself or w/e I guess,,,

He snorted at the messages but felt a kernel of warmth at the admission of love. Even when she was being flippant and mocking, Lumi was pretty blunt about where her affection laid.

Q: dramatic brat  
L: mm that's p rich coming from u  
L: which one of us tried to set a printer on fire?  
L: oh, yeah, it was u

Yeah, fuzzy feelings of friendship or not, he was going to knock her flat on her ass the next time they sparred. Or better yet, throw her over his shoulder so she couldn't use her Semblance to flit away and find a pool to toss her in.

L: well, gtg  
L: wish me luck (haha)

He fingered the frayed string bracelet on his left wrist and returned his attention to his take-out and TV shows. Sometime later, as the couple on-screen argued about which type of tile to use for their shower, his Scroll buzzed with another burst of messages from Lumi.

L: i think im being extorted?

… What in the hell?

L: sooooo got in trouble for going into teachers lounge  
L: forgot that i wasnt supposed to be able to get in thre  
L: headdmaster wants honey bread roll things & in return i wont get detente  
L: *detention

Oh, well that made sense. He could personally attest that those little bread things she made were good to mindlessly snack on; and knowing Oz, he could see why the other man would trade in her detention for the chance to get more.

Q: dont tell him i told u but oz has a giant sweet tooth- make of that wht u will  
L: noted  
L: and hey, im not dead so if ur free this weekend do u want to meet up for coffee?  
L: haven't seen you in forever, so my treat *heart*

He cracked a grin at the words on screen and reconsidered his plan to dunk her in the nearest body of water. (He was still going to do it of course, but at least he thought about not doing it _once_ so that had to count for something right?)

 **-[-]-**

Lumi pocketed her buzzing Scroll and scanned the shelves for Sweet Sours- from _Vacuo_. Never mind that Vale had its own version, which tasted much better in her opinion, but her siblings were adamant about getting the imported version so here she was, at seven thirty on a Saturday night, halfway across town, buying it for them.

Oh, the things she did for love. She strolled into line and dug through her small purse for her wallet, which had somehow drifted to the bottom despite the fact that there was basically no room in the bag. She shoved the layer of receipts, empty tube of lip balm and half full water bottle aside and wrapped her fingers around the worn leather as the cashier rung up the vaguely familiar girl in front of her.

"Your total is 3,462 lien," the cashier said and the dark haired girl in front hesitated.

"I thought the sandwiches were on sale?"

"They were," Kelly said and adjusted his name tag. "But that sale ended yesterday."

Her shoulders slumped. "Can I put the chips back?"

"Sure," he tapped a few buttons and the new total blinked onto screen.

"Uh, drinks too," she murmured and passed over money when the newest total appeared.

Lumi glanced at the retreating figure as she put her small haul onto the counter. When she turned, she caught sight of her face and recognized the other girl as Yang's partner, Blake. Her hand drifted over her pocket where her Scroll rested. Hadn't Ruby texted her yesterday to keep an eye out for the quiet girl? Something about a disagreement that Weiss and Blake got into?

"1,207 lien," Kelly announced, breaking her from her thoughts.

"I'll take what she didn't," she said after a moment. He shrugged and rang up the rest.

Whatever was going on with team RWBY, it didn't look like Blake was returning to their dorm for the second night in a row. She handed over the lien, tucked the candy in her purse and worried the strap between her fingers. Where would she sleep tonight if she didn't even have enough money to get cheap, convenience store food?

Lumi took the change and hurried after Blake. She hadn't gotten very far- just to a bench within sight of the store despite the dark. She was sitting with a blond boy Lumi didn't recognize, but she figured he was another Beacon student from the armor on his arms.

"Blake," she called when she was near enough to talk comfortably- too close for the other girl to run away. She knew the look of someone who wanted to bolt well enough, and it didn't take a genius to notice the way Blake twitched and glanced between her and the open street.

"I noticed that you didn't have enough," she said in a purposefully casual tone, like buying food for her friends' teammate that she'd barely said three words to was a normal thing to do. "Here."

"I can't pay you back," her tone was wary but she stared at the proffered food with barely disguised hunger.

"No need," she shrugged. "I heard you and team RWBY were having some trouble, but that doesn't mean you should go hungry." She plopped the bag into the un-named blond's waiting hands.

"Wow, Blake, you've got some nice friends," he commented and his monkey tail swung around in a casual wave. "I'm Sun, by the way."

"Did my team send you to check up on me?" she cut off Lumi's response and shot a glare at her friend for rifling through the snacks.

How interesting that she called them "my team" and not "my friends". Well, even when fighting each other, a team was a team. She felt curiosity bubble in her chest but pushed the feeling down. The dark-haired first year didn't look like she was going to stick around for much longer, charity or no charity. Still, she couldn't help but to meddle a little and (hopefully) get them talking.

"They didn't send me, but they _are_ looking for you; stay safe."

Without waiting for a response, she shadow-stepped back to her neighborhood and used the walk to think. She didn't know much about Ruby and Yang's teammate, but the way she held herself and the way she was looking for ways to run struck a chord. If she didn't have Ash and Nocte to worry about, would she have run too?

She shook her head to clear it of that train of thought. It was difficult to say and dwelling on it wouldn't do her any good. Besides, it was a nice night out and she didn't usually get many of those to herself between running errands for others, going to parties or clubs with her friends, and missions. The stars were just barely peeking out from the night sky and the moon was half-full as a warm breeze rushed by.

She soaked in the atmosphere and walked up the front steps to her house, at peace with the world- then was immediately accosted by a dusty Nocte who demanded that she clean the attic because all the boxes up there were _her_ things and it was impossible to find anything in that "mess". Of course, the younger girl did this in between a wheezy cough and no less than four sneezes, but A for effort and all that.

She hummed and slid two packs of Sweet Sours into Nocte's hands, then shadow-stepped to her room and toed off her shoes. It looked like another busy night- she might as well get started.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap! Thank you all for reading, favoriting and reviewing- every notification in my inbox put a smile on my face :)

Like I said, this story's events aren't _quite_ canon to the (proper) sequel of Cobwebs and Crows, but a good bit of background info will come from here so don't be too surprised if certain situations/characters/ideas pop back up later! If anyone is interested, I also have ~4 chapters of an alternate version of CC where Lumi is Qrow's teaching assistant and not just a student in detention so drop a review to let me know if you'd be interested in seeing that. Otherwise I'll just focus on cleaning up my BNHA fanfic and posting that.

Hope you all have a lovely day!

-NotWeird


End file.
